A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
Reference is made to a computer program listing appendix contained within a file named Rochfordxe2x80x9409-747,783.txt, 13.0K bytes, created Nov. 07, 2003, provided on compact disk, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of setting up a computer videodriver, and more particularly to the method and apparatus of an automated computer video driver management system in setting up a video driver in accordance with the video controller utilized in the computer system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 is a flow diagram illustrating the process of installing a new video interface controller in a computer system. As shown in. FIG. 1, conventionally, replacing a video interface controller card in a computer system involves the following process:
A) power off the computer system to avoid causing damage to components or hazards for the person who is going to install the new video controller card (step 10);
B) remove the computer case cover to gain access to the bus for installing the new video controller card or remove the pre-existing video controller card in the system (step 12);
C) remove the old video controller adapter (step 14);
D) install the new video controller adapter in the bus of the computer system (step 16);
E) replace the case cover (step 18);
F) power on the computer system (step 20); and
G) follow video controller adapter manufacturer""s directions for installing the video display driver for the new adapter (step 22).
The problem with this process is that in some cases the preexisting display drivers are not correctly removed from the system and the new display adapter tries to use those old drivers. This will result in a botched installation and will limit function to a standard VESA SVGA screen display of 640xc3x97480xc3x974 bit color.
The above-identified problem occurs because the Windows System Registry contains no entry for a Standard VGA PCI graphics adapter device. As a result, the system is forced to identify all new video graphics adapters with the drivers it already has installed in the system. However, the driver installed previously is invariably incorrect for the new video controller adapter.
When installing an upgrade PandP (Plug and Play) graphics adapters in a Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows 98 (and presumably the upcoming Windows Millennium) operating systems, the computer will be confused and attempt to use the video display drivers for the previous graphics adapter with the new graphics adapter. The result of this is that a computer system whose graphical operations are limited to a bare minimum of functionality and requires the services of a skilled technician to correct the problem.
Automated Driver Management (ADM) addresses this problem by interacting with the user""s computer system before a new graphics adapter is installed. When run, ADM actively causes the computer system to install the Standard PCI Graphics Adapter driver that is inherent to all Microsoft Windows operating systems. This driver provides a wide degree of compatibility and is suitable for the purposes of graphic adapter upgrades. This guarantees that the older video graphics driver has been removed and will not interfere with the installation of a new graphics adapter.
The Result
This process will streamline the installation process for video graphics adapter upgrades. It will heighten the end-user experience and help to build product confidence by making the process simple, dependable, and seamless. It will additionally result in a lower incidence of technical support call backs, thereby lowering the resources required to support the distribution of video graphics adapters for the upgrade market.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will no doubt become apparent after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments which are illustrated in the several figures of the drawing.